We’re down to the final two teams in the
2016/17 NHL playoffs as the Pittsburgh Penguins will be battling it out with
the Nashville Predators for Lord Stanley’s Cup. The Penguins are the defending
champions while the Predators will be playing in the finals for the first time.
Nashville made the playoffs this year as the bottom seeded team with 94 points
while the Penguins had 111. History will be made either way. Pittsburgh will
become the first franchise to win back-to back cups in the salary-cap era with
their fifth championship or Nashville will become the first 16th-seeded
team to hoist the trophy. The last team to win two straight Stanley Cups was
Detroit in 1997 and 1998.

The Predators enter the series as the NHL’s
best defensive team, but they’re without one of their top offensive players in
centre Ryan Johansen as well as fellow forward Kevin Fiala. They’re also hoping
forwards Mike Fisher and Craig Smith will return from their injuries. Meanwhile,
the Penguins will be missing one of their top defenceman as Kris Letang is
sidelined, but forward Patrik Hornqvist should be back soon. The teams met each
other just twice during the regular season with Nashville winning 5-1 at home
in October and the Penguins doubling them 4-2 in Pittsburgh in January. This is
the first time they’ve met each other in a playoff series.

Matt Murray has now taken over from
Marc-Andre Fleury in net for the Penguins and has posted a 94.6 save percentage
in his four starts. Pekka Rinne has started all 16 games for Nashville with a
save percentage of 94.1 so this has the potential to be quite a goaltending
duel. This may be the first appearance in the finals for Nashville, but their
coach Peter Laviolette has already won a Stanley Cup with Carolina back in
2005/06 and he also led Philadelphia to the finals in 2009/10. He’s just the
fourth coach in NHL history to take three different teams to the finals.

Pittsburgh has made it this far by
eliminating Columbus in five games in the first round and then beating both Washington
and Ottawa in the seventh and deciding games. Nashville swept Chicago in four
games in their opening series and then took care of both St. Louis and Anaheim
in six contests. The Penguins have the edge on the power play during the
postseason as they’re success rate is 23.6 per cent and Nashville’s is just
14.9 per cent. The Predators have the edge in penalty killing though at 88.1
per cent compared to Pittsburgh’s 84.9
per cent.

Pittsburgh has scored 2.89 goals per game
in the postseason and allowed 2.21 goals against while Nashville has a
league-best 2.89 goals for per game and 1.81 goals against. The final series
gets underway on Monday, May 29th with games scheduled for May 31st,
June 3rd, 5th, 8th, 11th and 14th.
All games are set to face off just after 8pm Eastern Time. The two teams have
met 25 times in the past with Pittsburgh holding the edge with a record of
12-10-2-1.